Maurizio Sarri hit back angrily at media asking about Lazio’s Scudetto and Europa League ambitions ahead of the Sturm Graz trip. ‘Rome is a specialist in building teams up and then crushing them to dust.’
While their domestic form has been strong, the Biancocelesti had one of their now traditional Europa League blackouts in a shock 5-1 defeat to FC Midtjylland on September 15.
Tomorrow they need to get back on track and prove themselves in the trip to Austrians Sturm Graz, which kicks off at 17.45 UK time (16.45 GMT).
Sarri was so furious and stunned by that performance, he even threatened to quit the club.
“Lazio are in good shape, have played well from the start, we just failed one game due to superficiality and arrogance,” said the coach in his press conference.
“After the victory over Feyenoord, we thought it might be easy, but that’s not the case in Europe. If you don’t give your best, then you will pay the consequences. We have to make up for it tomorrow, come here with humility first and foremost.
“I am glad that it is the only game we got completely wrong, the other 10 – aside from the results – we had the right approach.”
Lazio have now won three Serie A matches on the bounce, all with clean sheets and scoring a total of 10 goals, so are they Scudetto contenders?
“We’re still at the beginning. It’s a bit better compared to last season on a tactical level, seeing as seven or eight were already with us, but in terms of mentality we did start from scratch,” said Sarri.
“The biggest mistake my players could make would be to listen to this rubbish about the Scudetto. Unfortunately, the city of Rome is a specialist in this sort of thing, building teams up and then crushing them to dust.
“We can grow to become competitive, not winners. Let’s focus on tomorrow, as Sturm Graz have a lot of intensity.”
The coach was also adamant that the squad is nowhere near ready to compete on three fronts.
“At this moment no, I hope we will be in a few months.”
Sarri warned he will have to rotate the squad, but also assured Ciro Immobile, Pedro and Alessio Romagnoli are in better shape now than they were earlier in the campaign, when dealing with muscular issues.